All over the world, there are food festivals, some principally focus on food and invite guest chefs from across the globe to share their creativity and skills Others like MAD in Copenhagen (coming up in May) focus on food, farming and environmental issues and try to come up with solutions to remedy your deeply flawed food system.
JR Ryall, pastry chef at Ballymaloe House and I recently travelled to Sri Lanka to participate in the Gourmet Galle festival which is now in its second year. It was originally created by the legendary Geoffrey Dobbs who also initiated the Galle Literary Festival which commenced in 2005. This was my second time participating.
We created a Taste of Ballymaloe Dinner at the chic Charleston Hotel one night. The menu was a fusion of Sri Lankan and Irish ingredients. We brought a beautiful side of Belvelly Smoked Salmon from artisan fish smoker, Frank Hederman all the way from Ireland and served it with a fresh cucumber pickle, devilled eggs and freshly baked, Ballymaloe brown yeast bread.
Lots of beets in season at the moment so we made a chilled beetroot soup drizzled with Sri Lankan buffalo curd and fresh coriander, very welcome in the sweltering Sri Lankan heat. Main course was roast free-range Sri Lankan pork with crackling, aubergines in the pickling style and rustic roast potatoes sprinkled with fresh rosemary.
Guests particularly loved JR’s sweet trolley and each and every one of the beautiful people tucked into a taste of absolutely everything on offer. Sri Lanka grows wonderful cashew nuts, so the praline ice cream was made with cashew nuts instead of almonds. JR layered up the panna cotta with a Sri Lankan espresso coffee jelly, a huge success. Little coconut meringues were topped with the sweetest Alfonso mango and a spoonful of tangy passion fruit and finally there was a wobbly, gooey chocolate tart.
All the recipes came from JR‘s Ballymaloe Desserts Cookbook, which we later found on the shelves of a fantastic independent bookshop in Unawatuna called Wild and Sage. It’s also got a sweet little café so put it on your Sri Lankan list if you’re planning to head that way.
We stayed in The Charleston in Galle Fort for several days, so we had the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. Of course, we visited the fish market on the edge of the lagoon plus the fruit and veg markets and lots of spice shops in the Muslim quarter where we learned how to source the very best Sri Lankan cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamon, nutmeg and mace.
Out in Tagalle, I watched the fishermen laboriously hauling in their horseshoe nets and sharing the catch. One of the traditional Sri Lankan Orrou boats sustains 8 to 10 families, it was truly an honour to observe this time honoured practice, most of the catch was whitebait and another slightly bigger but still tiny fish. Occasionally, they caught a couple of sear fish which was like winning the lotto for them.
Food is our subject, so we’re continually researching to add to our depth of knowledge. There are of course many tea gardens, young leaves from the top of the tea plant are handpicked and cured. Tea from Ceylon, now Sri Lanka has been sought after for hundreds of years and at last conditions for the pickers and farm workers are improving. Organic tea leaves from the Diyanillakelle Tea Garden in Lindula within the Nuwara Eliya District of Sri Lanka are included in the special Ballymaloe Tea blend created for us by Henrietta Lovell, The Rare Tea Lady.
We went on several foodie adventures including a visit to the Gradely Cinnamon Estate which was less than an hour from Galle to get a full understanding of the fascinating process from start to finish. Our guide, Hasita, was a brilliant communicator and gave us an in-depth tour, literally from the red earth to the curled up cinnamon bark. We watched a cinnamon peeler sitting, cross legged on the floor, expertly peeling and rolling the bark with the skill passed down to him from his father and grandfather. All Sri Lankan cinnamon is still meticulously hand peeled and rolled, think about that…
We learned the crucially important skill of how to tell the difference between cassia (false cinnamon) and true cinnamon which is regularly passed off as cinnamon. Ground cinnamon, which is regularly cut with cassia, a cheaper and more acrid spice. True cinnamon is sweet and flaky, cassia is a much firmer texture, considerably cheaper, darker in colour and more acrid in flavour. If you have a choice, look for the Alba grade, it’s mostly considered to be the finest. Because of its quality, it’s mostly exported from Sri Lanka.
All parts of the cinnamon bush are valuable, the leaves are distilled and used to make cinnamon leaf oil, it’s got a high percentage of eugenol, also used in the fragrance industry and is a highly effective antibacterial cleaning agent but NOT for human consumption. Cinnamon oil on the other hand is mainly used to flavour cakes, biscuits, desserts, drinks.
Cinnamon is known to be antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and is a natural cholesterol buster. The trimmings of the quills are used to make cinnamon tea, and the peeled branches are used for barbecue fuel. It’s the plant that keeps on giving…
Black-Eyed Beans with Mushrooms
This recipe uses a piece of cinnamon rather than powder.
Beans are an almost perfect food, they are high in protein and fibre and they don’t contain a scrap of fat or dreaded cholesterol. They are also cheap and highly versatile, they can however be deadly dull but livened up with fresh herbs and spices the possibilities are endless.
This is a recipe high on my list of favourite vegetarian recipes, basically it is another gem from Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘A Taste of India’ but I have adapted the recipe slightly. Fresh coriander makes a tremendous difference to the flavour. If you have any space now that Spring is on the way, why not buy a packet of seeds, it is really easy to grow and you’ll soon become addicted.
Serves 6
Ingredients
225g dried black-eyed beans
225g fresh mushrooms
6 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
2.5cm piece of cinnamon bark
150g onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
400g fresh or tinned tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
½ tsp ground turmeric
pinch of sugar
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 good tsp salt, (it needs it so don’t cut down)
freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (fresh parsley may be substituted though the flavour is not at all the same)
Method
Soak the beans in plenty of cold water overnight. Next day cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes approx. or until just cooked.
Cut the mushrooms into 3mm thick slices. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over a medium-high flame. When hot, put in the whole cumin seeds and the cinnamon stick. Let them sizzle for 5-6 seconds. Now put in the onions and garlic. Stir and fry until the onion is just beginning to colour at the edges. Put in the mushrooms. Stir and fry until the mushrooms wilt. Now put in the tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, pinch of sugar and cayenne. Stir and cook for a minute. Cover, and let this mixture cook on a gentle heat in its own juices for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat under the sauté pan. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and add to the mushroom base mixture, add salt and freshly ground pepper, 2 tablespoons of fresh coriander and 150ml of bean cooking liquid.
Bring the beans to the boil again. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the beans are tender. Stir occasionally. Remove the cinnamon stick before serving. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of fresh coriander. Serve with boiled rice or as an accompaniment to a rack of lamb.
Spiced Pan Roasted Pear Cake
Use freshly ground cinnamon here but if you buy the already ground product, it should be pale in colour and sweet to taste.
Serves 8-10
Ingredients
110g soft light or dark brown sugar
110g unsalted butter, cut in cubes
175g plain flour
110g caster sugar
2 tsp freshly ground cinnamon
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 large eggs
150ml sunflower oil
1 pear, coarsely grated
1 tbsp grated ginger
4 pears, peeled, cored and cut into 6
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Method
Sprinkle brown sugar over the bottom of a heavy 25cm sauté pan or frying pan or a heavy cake tin with 6.5cm deep sides. Add the butter to the pan. Place the sauté pan on a low heat until butter melts.
Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt together. Whisk in the eggs and oil. Mix in the grated pear and ginger.
Remove the pan or tin from the heat. Whisk the butter and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Arrange the pear slices in the frying pan or tin. Pour the batter over the pears and bake until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean (approximately 1 hour).
Allow to cool slightly (10 minutes approximately); loosen the edges of the cake with a knife and turn out onto a hot plate.
Serve warm with softly whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream.
Marzipan Apples
Sweet apples are rolled in butter and then crusted with freshly ground cinnamon and sugar – so delicious!
Serves 12, 1 per person
Ingredients
12 medium eating apples, e.g. Worcester Pearmain, Golden Delicious or Cox’s Orange Pippin. Marzipan will keep for 2-3 months in a fridge.
Marzipan
Makes 300g
175g ground almonds
110g sugar
62ml water
1 small egg white
natural almond extract to taste (do not use more than 4 drops)
Coating
110g melted butter
225g caster sugar mixed with 4 rounded teaspoons ground cinnamon. (This is approximate: the amount of the mixture depends on the size of the apples.)
Method
To Make the Marzipan.
Put the sugar and water into a deep saucepan. Stir over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar in the water. Bring to the boil. Cover the pan for 2 minutes to steam any sugar from the saucepan sides. Remove cover and boil rapidly just to thread stage: 106-113°C.
Remove from the heat. Stir the syrup for a second or two until cloudy. Stir in the ground almonds. Set aside to cool briefly.
Lightly whisk the egg white, add the almond extract and stir into the almond mixture. Transfer the paste from the saucepan to a bowl. Cool. Knead the cool marzipan, it should feel like moulding clay. Put in a bowl or jar, cover and use as required.
Meanwhile, peel and core the apples. Stuff the cavities with the marzipan filling. Roll the apples first in melted butter and then in the castor sugar and cinnamon. Place in an ovenproof dish and bake in a moderate oven 180°C/Gas Mark 4, for 1 hour approx. The apple needs to be very soft.
Serve warm with a bowl of softly-whipped cream.
Note
Apples may take less/more time to cook depending on the variety and time of the year.
